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Bio

(She changed her name to avoid confusion with the actress Elizabeth Mitchell.) She has three siblings. Growing up, she played baseball and rode horses, but broke her leg in Little League. She segued from sports into acting in a school play.

After graduating high school, Elizabeth Banks graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, and later earned an MFA from the American Conservatory Theater.

Her first role was in "Surrender Dorothy." Many roles followed until she gained more recognition in "Sea Biscuit," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," and "The Hunger Games," as well as parts on "Scrubs" and "30 Rock."

Elizabeth Banks has a son, Felix with her husband, Max Handelman. She had the baby via gestational surrogacy. "It's a big leap, inviting this person into your life to do this amazing, important thing for you. And it's hard losing that kind of control. But our surrogate is so extraordinary, and she's still in our lives. She's like an auntie." She added, "My plan is when Felix is 15, we'll go skydiving together. I want to be that mom. The one who takes her kid skydiving" (jewishtimes.com).

Elizabeth Banks said of sex, "Sex is always funny. I don't find it sexy. I find it really horrifying. But it's an act that we need. And that need, that desire, is what makes it really funny. Every dude is trying to get laid, 24/7, from the time they're 11 or 12. Everything they do is about trying to get laid, yet they're maybe way too hairy, they fart, they have tempers. They don't know what the real situation is, and it's that struggle that I find really funny. Every man wins the lottery when he gets a woman to love him." (womenshealthmag.com).

Elizabeth Banks said of being a hottie on the screen, "I don't think I'm that special. Because no one is that special. I'm not curing cancer; I'm not saving lives. I play make-believe for a living, so let's not take it too seriously."

Of her breasts, Elizabeth Banks said, "I've never wanted bigger boobs. At times, I may have wanted to be taller, or tanner, or have better legs, but I don't get the gigantic boobs thing.everyone has their taste, so I think I appeal to some people and not at all to other people, and that's OK with me."